Heber Valley Heritage Foundation Midway Fort Family John Mckee Faucett LNDX-DZC and Mary Ann Shelton written by Jerry Duke.

The Heber Valley became the home of many Tennessee transplants. In 1790, North Carolina ceded to the federal government some of their western territory. The Southwest Territory was formed, and Tennessee became a state in 1796. The war for our country’s independence from England exhausted the treasuries of many of the newly formed states. In turn the new national government accepted these lands for reimbursement and to pay soldiers for their service. Many received grants of land in lieu of monies.

There were many adventurous pioneers moving their families to these lands which had previously been the home of only native Americans, less a few very hardy individuals who had ventured there prior to the Revolutionary War. Some of my ancestors, the Youngs, Smiths, and Borens, were among this group. When the resorted gospel was preached to these receptive individuals, they readily received it. They seemed to have been drawn to what is now Wasatch County. It would be an interesting project to see how many of these early residents of the Heber Valley had ties to Tennessee.

Robert Bruce Dunbar in his publication “The Fausetts and McKees in North Carolina writes about John McKee Fausett: (He) “was born 22 December 1804 in Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee, the sixth child of Richard Fausett and Mary McKee. (He was my great great grandmother Ivie’s brother.) On 10 November 1821 he married Margaret Smith in Maury County, Tennessee. Margaret was born 18 May 1797 in Rutherford County, North Carolina, the daughter of Reggo (Cage) Micaja Smith and Elizabeth Agee. Margaret already had a son, Jackson Smith.

John and Margaret had five children. The first three children were born in Tennessee. In 1830 the family moved to Montgomery County, Illinois.” (I think there is no proof of this move. Church records show that was the case, but that just doesn’t make sense. Montgomery County is far north near Chicago. Montgomery County, Tennessee is on the border of Kentucky right next to Sumner County where John was born. I believe that should be Montgomery County, Tennessee and not Illinois. He and Margaret were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints in 1832, probably in Tennessee. They shortly thereafter moved to
Kirtland, Ohio. John joined Zions Camp and traveled to Missouri in 1834.

The family later moved to Missouri with the larger body of the Saints and then to Nauvoo, Illinois in 1839. Most of the children are accounted for, but the places of birth seem to be lacking evidence.

John and Margaret came to Utah with the William Snow/Joseph Young Company in 1850 and they are listed as residents of Provo in the 1860 census. They are living near John’s sister, Eliza McKee Fausett Ivie and other Ivie nephews. This area later became known as the Orem bench. Margaret died in 1852 and in 1853 John married Mary Ann Shelton, the daughter of a neighbor, Stephen Shelton. Mary A was born on 25 December 1827 in Harmony Township, Missouri. Her mother was Nancy Brown. Abigail Harris Shelton was her stepmother. Stephen died in 1855 leaving Abigail a widow with eight children. John took Abigail as a plural wife in 1856 and in almost nine months to the day a son was born to them, one Charles Fausett. The marriage did not take well and the 1860 census shows Abigail Shelton and her children living in Provo and John McKee Fausett living in Alpine, Utah with Mary Ann and their children. John’s stepson, Jackson Smith is also in the 1860 census for Utah as a resident in Provo Valley (Heber Valley). They lived in the Center Creek area. Jackson will later live in the Midway Fort although he is not listed as a resident in the publication: “How Beautiful Upon the Mountains”.

 John and Mary Ann must have moved to Midway, Utah shortly after the 1860 census for it is believed that they were among the first five families in the upper Midway settlement. They were tasked with tending the sheep for the group and protecting them from physical dangers and Indian attacks. Mary Ann proved an asset in this respect. She was part Cherokee and had some rapport dealing with them. The native population feared an area known as White Pine for they felt a great serpent lived there in the lake and that became a preferred place to protect the animals. One concern was the presence of bears in the area. The two settlements on the west side of the Provo River came together as one for protection in 1866 in what they called Midway. A fort was built for protection during a general warfare in Utah with the Indian population known as the Blackhawk War.

Rachel Smith the daughter of Jackson Smith who was the stepson of John McKee Fausett gave her remembrances of the Midway Fort to her granddaughter, Ora Higgenbotham. Jackson Smith had lived in Center Creek and Jordanelle in the Heber Valley but returned with his family to Iowa and Nebraska to earn a nest egg. He returned to Utah in 1866 and moved into the Midway Fort. Ora writes for her grandmother: “

“We went to Midway, Wasatch Co. and stayed in the Fort there. The fort consisted of Log cabins built on a large square. The backs of the cabins formed a huge log wall. The only opening was a large gate that was always guarded. Windows and doors were on the front side of the cabins. In the center of the square was a  schoolhouse. When the Indians made trouble for us the women and children all went into the schoolhouse and the animals were driven inside the square because most of the Indian raids were to steal some of our stock. The school was a large room with a fireplace in one end. A big rough lumber table was in the center with benches around it. One corner was piled high with dried corn stalks, which were spread out for mattresses when we spent the night. We children that were old enough for school learning attended school regularly. I loved learning to read and write. We lived at the fort for two years.”

A submitter to FamilySearch known as Anita57 posted a history about John and Mary Ann. The author is not cited, but it was well done. I would like to conclude with a portion of that history.

“John McKee Fausett was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a counselor to Sidney Epperson, the First Presiding Elder in the settlement. He was kind, charitable and a friend to everyone. He hauled tan bark to Salt Lake with ox teams to the tannery. He told the incident of being on his way home from taking a load of tan bark. It was bitter cold and he was nearly frozen. He knew if he kindled a fire that it would attract the Indians and that perhaps he would be killed by them, since they were hostile at the time. He felt that he would perish if he didn’t warm himself a bit or heat a little hot water to make a warm drink. He found a sheltered spot under a ledge of rock and built the very smallest blaze he could to heat a bit of water, but the Indians saw the smoke and came where he was. They
took him and began to disrobe him, and he felt that they would take his clothing and leave him to freeze to death if not kill him. But when they came to his underclothing and saw the marks on his garments, they shouted something among themselves that he did not understand and quickly left him and his team and wagon. He was not molested again on his journey.

When the Upper Settlement and the lower Settlement on the west side of the Heber Valley came together for mutual protection from the Indians and built the fort around the town square, Grandfather Fausett moved into the Fort. His house was the first one on the west of the north section of the square; his daughter, Amanda, and Nancy Ann and their families both lived in the fort. He took his turn standing guard with the other men to protect the settlement called Midway from marauding Indians. They suffered with the rest of the Saints for want of food and clothing. They farmed their acres to the best of their ability with the help of his large family.
They had eleven children.

He died March 29, 1874, at Midway, Utah, and he is buried in the northeast corner of the Midway Cemetery. His wife, Mary Ann Shelton Fausett, or Aunt Polly was born in Missouri December 25, 1831, the daughter of Stephen Shelton and Nancy Brown. Her mother died when she was one year old. She had three brothers that she talked of many times. She was baptized by the Prophet Joseph Smith and told of sitting on his lap and hearing him talk. She attended the mock funeral, as did her husband. Her husband also was with the Prophet just before the martyrdom and saw the mob that shot him. He told the story of seeing the bolt of lightning strike the mobster who tried to cut off the Prophet’s head after he had been shot. She looked upon the face of the dead Prophet and Patriarch, and her sorrow knew no bounds at the great tragedy of the time. She crossed the plains with her father, walking all the way bare footed. They settled in Provo where she married her husband. There her first child was born, a girl whom she called Nancy Ann. Her life was carried on in the activities of her husband after their coming to Midway to live. They became the parents of eleven children, nine girls first and then two boys.

After her husband’s death in 1874, she carried on the heavy burden of providing for her large family, going each summer to the White Pines with her cows. There she made and sold butter, sold milk, buttermilk, and eggs to the miners and loggers. Often, she walked over the hills to Park City and carried her wares to deliver them to those who needed them. She also washed for the miners and loggers, carded and spun wool, knitted socks and mittens, and sold these wares to them. The flat where she had her summer home was called “Buttermilk Flat.” She was also an expert soap maker. From her Indian ancestry she inherited the knowledge of roots and herbs
and plants, and their food and medicinal value, and she was called on constantly to help in times of sickness and death. She never turned anyone away from her door, and she was known as Aunt Polly to all who know her. She helped rear and succor a nephew and niece. Stephen Shelton and Margaret Shelton Kinsey as long as they lived. Stephen died without marrying, but Margaret married James Kinsey and was the mother of four fine sons. She was faithful and true to her religion and never complained through all her trials and sorrows. Instead, she praised the Lord and always, to the day of her death, bore the same strong testimony of the truthfulness of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the divine calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith. She died August 3, 1900, at Midway, Utah and is buried in the Midway Cemetery by the side of her husband. She has a numerous posterity to honor her memory, and her husband also numbers his posterity among the hundreds among the Latter-day Saints today. It is an honor to be one of their descendants.”

John McKee Fausett

Wives

Margaret Smith
      Jackson Osbourn Smith
      Catherine Candace Fausett
      Elizabeth Ann Fausett
      Amanda Caroline Fausett
      William Alexander Fausett
      Lucretia Fausett
      Elizabeth S Fausett

Mary Ann Shelton
      Nancy Ann Fausett
      Margaret Ann Fausett

      Amanda Angeline Fausett

      Mary Elizabeth Faucett
      Sarah Maria Fausett
      Julia Ann Fausett
      Abigail Eliza Fausett
      Annette Fausett
     Jeannette Fausett
      Esther Jane Fausett
     John William Fausett
     David Fausett

Abigail Harris
     Charles Edward Fausett

 
Heber Valley Heritage Foundation